Examples of bacterial species that have been found to possess multiple replicons include Rhodobacter sphaeroides (two), Vibrio cholerae,[3] and Burkholderia multivorans (three).
Various Azospirillum species possess seven replicons; A. lipoferum, for instance, has one bacterial chromosome, five chromids, and one plasmid.
Fine structure analysis of chromosomal origins of replication is limited to a single model eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Non-cellular entities such as viruses, plasmids, transposons, retrotransposons, viroids, virusoids and RNA satellites are also replicons.
Patrick Forterre of the Pasteur Institute has coined the term "orphan replicon" to refer to those that are not viruses; i.e., that lack a capsid.